Patio doors have traditionally been an easy target for a burglar seeking to gain unlawful entry into a home, which typically only required the use of a pry bar and application of a modest amount of force to overcome the locks used therein. Although many homeowners had simply resorted to placing a wooden stick or a strip of wood into the bottom of the track to obstruct sliding movement of the door when not in use, other more elegant devices have been developed. One example is shown by U.S. Pat. No. 4,971,374 to Lovell for a “Home Security Protection Kit.”
However, resourceful thieves developed tactics to overcome the use of such devices, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,228,733 to Winters, which is for a “Safety Lock for Sliding Glass Doors.” Furthermore, these sliding doors were relatively easy to disengage from the track of the frame, even from the outside. This spawned the development of other sliding door related apparatus, such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,526,412 to Gist for “Security Device to Prevent Removal of Sliding Windows and Doors.”
Although there have been a number of devices conceived to inhibit the movement of sliding doors, there nevertheless remains a need for an improved device that may serve to desirably limit travel of a sliding patio door to be at a closed position, or alternatively in one or more partially open positions, including a fully opened position, while providing ease of operation for the user that does not sacrifice the security of the door against a forced entry. The present invention provide such travel limiting capabilities and also improved security over the prior art door stops.